By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
GOVERNMENT has hinted of its intentions to merge the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) because of the huge overlapping in the roles the two bodies play.
SCZ and NOC, however, report to different bodies but Government said the two seemed to be doing similar things and the Ministry of Sport was looking for a way to sort out this peculiar problem.

. Chelemu

Director of Sports, Bessy Chelemu told the Parliament Committee on Youth and Sport that her office was concerned with the two organisations seemed to be overlapping and replicating work in sports development.
Chelemu was responding to questions from the committee which chaired by Ikelenge member of Parliament Elijah Muchima who expressed concern over SCZ and NOC having the similar roles and wondered who was boss.
“We are aware of this problem and we have proposed for a meeting that will take place on February 20, this year. We are going to look at many ways so that roles of the two bodies do not clash but we will look at the possibility of merging the two,” Chelemu said.
Sports Permanent Secretary Agnes Musunga said Zambia was not the only country where this problem was occurring and she cited South Africa as another where the two bodies merged.
“So we might have to copy what South Africa did, but this is just one of the many proposals to be looked at but this concern you have raise has also been bothering us and we are working on it,” she said.
This is coming a day after SCZ through delegation leader Haroon Ghumra informed the committee that the levels of cooperation between his SCZ body and NOC was poor and needs improving.
Ghumra, a SCZ board member, said for sports to properly develop in the country, the two bodies needed to improve their working relationship.
SCZ acting general secretary Innocent Chalabesa said Government sometimes gives money straight to NOC with the SCZ’s permission.
But a day earlier, NOC submitted before that Parliamentary Committee it agreed and was also worried about the duplication of roles by the two bodies and asked the ministry to help harmonise the roles.
Whereas SCZ is an act of parliament and is a Government wing, NOC is the Zambian chapter of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).